Hello
I'm Thomas Sauer
As a Principal Licensure candidate, I'm dedicated to creating schools where every student can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
My leadership philosophy centers on collaboration, inclusivity, and the belief that education empowers lifelong success. I strive to foster a culture of excellence that inspires innovation, critical thinking, and a love for learning.
Narrative Overview of Current Teaching Position
I currently serve as a History Instructor at an inner-city middle school that educates a diverse and dynamic student population, including a large number of English Learners (ELLs) and students of color from a wide range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In this role, I design and deliver standards-aligned instruction that builds students’ historical thinking skills, strengthens academic language development, and fosters a learning environment where every student feels seen, valued, and capable of succeeding.
Key Roles and Responsibilities
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My core responsibilities include planning and teaching daily history lessons that support both content mastery and language development, with intentional scaffolds for multilingual learners. I design formative and summative assessments, analyze data to inform instruction, and differentiate learning experiences to meet varied student needs. Additionally, I collaborate closely with colleagues, including ESL specialists and grade-level teams, to ensure cohesive instructional practices and ensure that students receive consistent support across content areas. I also engage in ongoing communication with families and maintain a classroom environment that emphasizes respect, structure, and high academic expectations.
Top Three Priorities or Areas of Focus
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Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Instruction: Ensuring that curriculum materials, examples, and classroom discourse reflect students’ identities and affirm their cultural backgrounds.
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Academic Language Development: Embedding academic vocabulary, sentence frames, structured discourse, and language scaffolds to support ELL students in building clarity, confidence, and precision in both oral and written expression.
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Engagement and Accessibility: Designing lessons and activities that make historical content relevant, hands-on, and accessible to all learners while maintaining rigorous academic expectations.
Strengths I Bring to My Role
I bring a strong commitment to equity-focused teaching and a deep belief in the potential of every student. My strengths include the ability to build positive rapport with diverse learners, create clear and structured instructional routines, and design lessons that integrate language development with historical content. I am skilled at breaking down complex concepts into manageable parts and providing multiple entry points for students with different linguistic, cultural, and academic backgrounds. Additionally, my reflective practice and willingness to adapt allow me to continually refine instruction in response to student data and classroom dynamics.
Growth Edges / Areas for Development
A key area I am continuing to develop is expanding my expertise in advanced strategies for supporting multilingual learners, particularly in writing scaffolds and structured academic conversations. I also aim to strengthen my use of data-driven small-group instruction to more precisely target individual learning needs. Another growth area includes deepening my integration of inquiry-based learning and student-led discussions so that students take greater ownership of both their historical analysis and language use. These development areas align with the responsibilities and priorities of my position and support my goal of providing the most effective instruction for my diverse learners.
Summary of Current Leadership Activities
In addition to my classroom responsibilities, I participate in grade-level team meetings, collaborate in cross-disciplinary planning sessions, and support school-wide initiatives that promote culturally responsive practices. I contribute to conversations on improving instruction for ELL students and serve as an informal resource to colleagues seeking strategies for scaffolding content. I also take part in professional learning communities and engage in ongoing professional development focused on equity, curriculum refinement, and instructional best practices.